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| - We brought our cat, Rocky, to the Small Pet Emergency and Critical Care unit at the teaching hospital, when we found him laboring to breathe under our bed. It was not an easy decision to make: we are on a very tight budget and, besides, we had only adopted him the week before from the Humane Society. But he was clearly in a lot of pain and needed help.
Not only does the Teaching Hospital have state-of-the-art equipment and the best trained doctors and technicians, but they make it clear from the very beginning that their number one concern is the animal. Yes, it is $98 for the visit and exam, which is eighteen more than the Animal Emergency Clinic, but boy were we happy with our decision. Because it is a teaching and research hospital, our cat was able to participate in an imaging study, which provided free x-rays and CT scans, saving us upwards of $1,000. And when the prognosis came back, and we explained that we could not afford the treatment, they were upfront with us about the realities of our cat's condition and even offered to try and match whatever we could afford to pay.
If your pet is in trouble and you can't reach your vet, do the right thing and get it the help it needs. We were too late for our cat, but we don't hold that against the hospital: they did everything they could to help, spending well over five hours and who knows how many resources. I can't recommend them highly enough, and I urge anyone with a little extra money to donate. Donations will help folks like us, who were not yet in a position to give their friend the help he needed.
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